I flew into JFK on July 30th, but it still doesn’t feel like I’ve arrived in America yet. New York is its own country in and of itself! For the last week and a half I have met people from Ghana, Russia, the Philippines, Australia, Italy, Greece, Colombia, India, Nepal, China, you name it! You pick a country and I almost guarantee I’ve either seen or met someone from there. This metropolis is a melting pot of cultures and rhythms, lifestyles and beats. It is a city that never sleeps and there is always something entertaining just around the corner.
(Me, Patrick & Andrew)
And for the last few days, my buddy (Andrew Bennett) and I have been hitting the streets to have these cultures clash with the God who made them. We decided to pick a different borough or neighborhood each day and simply go out with the message of Mark 16:20, “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.” We went out to declare the love of God and demonstrate the power of God in 3 different areas: The Bronx, Harlem, and Queens. And each time we got off the subway and walked up the stairs into the open air, we entered an entirely new world. And I swear I've spoke more Spanish this past week than my entire 11 months on the World Race, haha!
Our first day out we leave Andrew’s sister’s apartment in Manhattan and head down to the subway on West 4th and tell the ticket counter lady that we would like to go to The Bronx. And this sweet, yet fierce black lady bites back, “Where in The Bronx do you want to go? I can’t just send you anywhere. It isn’t safe for guys like you!” So we tell her we want to do street evangelism and she decides on a busy intersection for us to get off at and we get on our way. But as we board the subway and start heading out there we find a woman who is holding a sign in English and is asking for money in Spanish. So I decide to go up to her and see what the problem is, and she says that her son is in the Dominican Republic and needs money for an operation on his liver. I begin to tell that we are missionaries and that we pray for healing, and then I ask her if we could pray for her and her son and she happily agrees. So right in the middle of the subway as we are moving I begin to pray and prophesy over her in Spanish. It was awesome to see her emotions and spirit get lifted, knowing that with God all things are possible and that He is not limited by time or space. And because of what others saw Andrew and I doing, afterward as she began to leave people started to give her money. God is so good, isn't He? He "is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think!" (Eph. 3:20)
This is just one of the countless stories of God intertwining our lives with those that He loves while we were here on the streets of New York. Other stories include helping a homeless guy who just had open heart surgery the week prior find a shelter for food and lodging. Our 4-hour journey of bus rides and walking around aimlessly, while speaking life into our fellow brother in Christ, ultimately led us to a Franciscan church that provided housing for the homeless. (By the way, Catholics are doing amazing things for the Kingdom!)
I also had a black guy come up to me on a bike and ask me if he could sing to me for money. I told him that I didn't really want to pay him to sing, but told him if he wanted to sing that he should sing the Bible. And from that point he told me that he was like Jonah and had been running away from his calling as a preacher. So I convinced him to start preaching and right in the middle of the park and He did! And then right before I flew out a few days later I bought him a Bible and encouraged him to go out and preach the Word.
The stories go on and on, and include randomness like sneaking into a Pentecostal church to pray and get filled up by the Spirit before doing ministry, holding up a sign that said "Free Healing" in the middle of the street, praying for an old Chinese lady who then buys me lunch afterward, praying for a legally blind guy who ends up selling drugs right in front of me to another guy in a shady park, being hit on the forehead and told I was ignorant for believing in Jesus by an athiest with a walker, being enlightened buy a homeless guy for hours about conspiracy theories, giving an apologetic discourse for the existence of God to two high schoolers while sharing a box of chicken nuggets together at a McDonald's, helping a local youth football team raise money for equipment and then prophesy over them, and then the best of all see a quite a few people get healed from knee and back pain who walk away overjoyed and touched by God.
That is what this next month is about, it is about Encounter! Encountering God and encountering others with the God who made them. We are not done with the race, the race has just begun. The end of Month 11 is merely the beginning Month 12. So Month 12, bring it on! We are open for any and everything to come our way!
(Dude, I Think We're Lost! What Country Is This Again?)
(Free Healing Anyone?) (See That Guy In The White-T?)
(Yeah, His Back Just Got Healed and He Was So Stoked!)
(They Buy Gold, We Give Health)
(Come On, You Don't Need That Cane No More!)
(This Lady's Leg Was Feeling Pretty Good Afterward)
(Get At It Kenneth, Preach It Brother!) (That's The Guy Who Slapped Me On The Forehead)
(This Is Cathlene After Her Knee Was Healed. And This Is Me Having No Idea How Take A Picture With My New Phone Or How To Style My Hair Now That It Is Short! I'll Blame the Wind And Lack Of A Mirror!)
